Holidays

I received a number of annual letters from friends this year. This is not a type of letter I am good at writing, but I treasure it when other people can summarize their lives in one page, and I save their letters year to year. One friend has been sending her life summaries for 30[Read More]

If you’re gathering with family this holiday season, there is likely to be discussion about what to do with those old cassette tapes of grandma telling family stories, or whether to keep the VHS tapes of your college graduation. We think this podcast, originally published in December of 2016 will provide valuable information and help[Read More]

by Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions I’ve been wracking my brain for the last few weeks, trying to think about what to write for my December blog. There are thousands of excellent blogs about gift giving and personal history including more “Listicles” than I can count. I don’t have any better ideas that those[Read More]

“Procrastination is the thief of time,” was one of my great grandmother’s favorite sayings. She would trot it out when she wanted me to finish a task for her, complete a homework assignment, or write a long neglected thank you note to an elderly relative. I ignored her quite often, and no dire results ensued.[Read More]

Twelve Ways to Connect with Family this Christmas By Pam Pacelli Cooper President, Verissima Productions A few weeks ago, I read a compelling article in The New York Times by Tony Schwartz Titled, “Addiction to Distraction,” it pulled me up short about my own constant presence on the Internet. The last few words of the[Read More]

As we approach the Fourth of July in the middle of an election year, I find myself thinking a great deal about the concept of an ethical will, and connecting that concept with what I consider to be the ethical will that our founders left us—the Preamble to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.[Read More]

“Can you imagine us years from today Sharing a park bench quietly How terribly strange to be seventy” –Simon and Garfunkel, “Old Friends” As a young girl growing up on the south side of Chicago, I remember going out to do errands and seeing the old women with their charming, pancake-shaped hats and their[Read More]

“You are not truly dead until there is no one left who remembers you.” —African proverb Every Memorial Day eve, my son’s adopted Portuguese grandmother would say, “We’re going to the graves, would Sam like to come?” As someone raised to stay away from cemeteries unless there were a funeral, I found this odd. “Are you[Read More]